“The Party is Not The Same,” “Eden is Overrated,” and “Is This What It Comes to at the End” by Claire Scott appeared in Issue 23 and can be read here.
We’d love to hear more about these poems.
Now in my seventies, I am thinking a lot more about aging and death. “Is This What It Comes to at the End” is a reflection on the distractions, such as dents in cars, that allow us to focus on a bashed Prius rather than on the impending separation. Arguments often have more passion because of the underlying, and often unstated, terror.
“Eden is Overrated” was simply fun to write. The Garden of Eden has always seemed a bit dull to me, so this was my chance to use it as a springboard for a poem.
Which poem was most difficult to write in this set?
The very short “The Party Is Not the Same” was particularly hard to write since my partner and I so rely on each other’s company. Sometimes words are not needed. In this poem, instead of an instinctive sharing, there is an abyss.
Recommend a book for us which was published within the last decade.
I just finished Ibram Kendi’s How to be an Antiracist. This should be required reading for everyone from middle school on up. My head was spinning. I believed I was an antiracist, yet I learned more about the subtleties of unconscious bias, microaggressions, and the racism of so many of our “liberal” policies. He points out that both Blacks and Whites are victims of this country’s racism. A must read!
If you could have a drink with any living author, who would it be? Why?
I would choose to have a drink with Ocean Vuong. I am amazed at his story of coming to this country, speaking no English and living in the back of a nail salon. And then his courage and determination to create a life here as a writer. He gained the ability to write beautiful and moving poetry as well as a heart breaking novel, despite the violence around him. I have read his poetry over and over and it still stirs my heart.
What are you working on now? What’s next?
Actually I am off to Sicily for three weeks! I am looking forward with doing some writing on our patio overlooking the sea. And sightseeing, eating, hiking. I am going to think about whether or not I want to put another poetry book together. I am conflicted since it takes so much time away from writing. We will see what the Sicilian muses have to say. Ciao!
Our thanks to Claire for taking the time to answer a few questions and share her work. Read Claire’s poems “The Party is Not The Same,” “Eden is Overrated,” and “Is This What It Comes to at the End” here: https://www.sequestrum.org/poetry-by-claire-scott.
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Claire Scott is an award winning poet who has received multiple Pushcart Prize nominations. Her work has been accepted by the Atlanta Review, Bellevue Literary Review, New Ohio Review, Enizagam and Healing Muse among others. Claire is the author of Waiting to be Called and Until I Couldn’t. She is the co-author of Unfolding in Light: A Sisters’ Journey in Photography and Poetry.